Asura's brows furrowed when faced with those words.

"What do you mean?"

"Put simply, do you want me to become your Fated Soul—to share everything with each other—or do you want to consume me and nourish your other Fated Soul?"

"Why would you ask me something like that? If there's a way to keep you alive, of course I will choose that! Why would I even want to consume you... wait, my other what?"

"Heh-heh... are you sure? Many would chose the second option. I'm a sacred existence after all... What a strange guy."

"Ahaa... If I was like the others, you wouldn't have chosen me. Anyways—what about the other Fated Soul you mentioned?"

"Fufu~ strange fella... then let's get started. Don't resist."

"Hey! Don't avoid my question... ah whatever. Do what you must."

Asura didn't know what will happen, but he nevertheless relaxed himself and patiently waited. The dark angel didn't keep him in suspense for long. Her form bound by chains started shrinking as chains slowly fell off one by one.

*Clang. Clang~ Clang...*

Asura suddenly felt a strange feeling—as if he was gaining another part of himself he previously had no idea of.

"This is the process of merging with a Fated Soul—the two souls become one. Focus and observe the changes this process brings to you. Your little Xia is going through something similar currently."

Asura felt as if many mysteries of the world had unfolded before himself. He felt that by wishing to do something, he would be able to do it regardless of how impossible it seemed. But within every of those mysteries, there was a counter-effect. For every change he wanted to make, he must provide something of equal value - energy.

An astronomical amount of energy even for the faintest of changes.

"This..."

He carefully felt everything changing as hundred chains started squirming around and began rising. As he got another part of himself, the other—dormant part—also awoke. The illusory seed manifested in the current reality and instantaneously formed a connection between itself and Asura, only for that connection to immediately vanish as it became a part of himself.

The seed's shape changed within a span of a single breath. The shape it took was a strange little creature. It resembled a miniature human girl with the features of a dragon. Its size was barely enough to fit in Asura's palm.

The creature had three eyes, the third one being a vertical eye on its forehead.

There was also a single black scale on the center of its chest—a scale that seemed like a crystal. This single scale had a shape of a four-pointed star. Besides these, there were also four horns on its head and ten dragon wings behind. At the base of every pair of wings, there was a pair of crystal scales coming in counter-pairs for a total of five pairs.

For example, if the left wing had a white scale, the opposite wing had a black scale. If the left one was of a Yin polarity, the other one was Yang.

Yin and Yang.

Light and Darkness.

Life and Death.

Creation and Destruction.

Chaos and Void.

Ten colorful scales, each of them hiding a terrifying concept within. Yet all these only to serve as the foundation for each of the creature's wings. What kind of existence was the creature itself then?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The creature shyly smiled towards Asura and turned into an illusory existence like before surfacing into this world and then rapidly shot between his eyebrows, occupying Asura's soul as its domain.

"Che. That little brat stole the best spot... I'll teach her a lesson one day.", the angel's voice echoed but strangely, it didn't seem angry but rather as if expecting that would happen.

The angel shrank to the size similar to the creature from before, only its shape was different. The angel's look changed slightly - black body with addition of golden and silver markings; six wings - three black and three white; black eyes with white outlines.

The thing greatly differing from usual was that the white seed in the angel's heart vanished. Immediately after that, a green mark appeared on the angel's forehead, manifesting a green crown above its head and even changing the whites lines in the eyes to green ones. It was a really strange sight to behold.

"Green? Is this your color? How interesting... I've never met a being whose core color was green. Vibrant yet Pure... Balanced yet Chaotic... How fortunate for us two, right - little thief?"

The angel spoke while looking at the place between Asura's eyebrows. It seemed like she was directing those words to Asura but in reality it was to the little girl from a moment ago.

"..."

After letting the awkward silence linger for a while, the dark angel sighed before continuing. "It seems this little fella doesn't wanna hang out with me. No matter. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yes actually! What is your name?"

"... Huh? That? You want to know my name?"

"Yes."

".... Hahahaha. I never expected this! My name is Tenri. The name of your Fated Soul is Tenri - The Deity of Nihility. The other one's name is Lilith. Though I don't know neither what she is nor why she is shy around her own master but oh well."

"Lilith and Tenri, eh? Quite unique and beautiful names... Um so... isn't it the time you explained what are the Fated Souls?"

"Aaah... right. I forgot to explain this before. Fated Souls are basically that - Souls you are fated with. After this, you will be able to gather the energy of the world and nourish us both, unlocking many capabilities and whatnot, maybe even reaching the realm of deities and making us evolve, who knows. Although I have to warn you - both of us require insane amount of energy to advance so your life will most likely be a cultivation hell."

"Cultivation? Like those novels from before?"

"Right. Something like that - only real, dangerous, exciting and difficult. I hope you're ready for this."

"Oh, so was this my awakening... interesting. Xia is undergoing something similar like this, right?"

"Hmm... not quite. She should be currently looking for her Fated Soul among the Sea of Souls, while you already came with little shy Lilith from your past life, even though I don't know where she came from nor what she is. And as for me... you know already how it went."

"Anything else you have to ask before I send you out?", Tenri asked while glaring at the spot between Asura's eyebrows.

Asura's eyebrows furrowed and only then did she snap out of her staring contest with the illusory girl. What caught her attention was Asura's finger pointing above them.

"Those dragon chains - what about them?"

"The dragon chains!? What dra-...!!!!"

From her reaction, it was obvious that Tenri didn't notice the change that happened as the trio fused together. The previous hundred chains had become a hundred dragons, forming a formation around the three of them. On the head of every dragon, there was a bright wisp that Asura was fairly familiar with - it was the wisp representing a drifting soul.

"Y-you... those... what are you?"

"Huh? Didn't you already figure that out back on Earth? I am me! As to what that is - I have no idea."

"Those.... are those... It has to be. Asura, listen to me carefully. Never lightly attempt to resolve those chains or to break through the major realm dividers. The resentment of heavens you will be faced with is something even I can't foresee. Do you know why?"

"How would I know?"

"Do you want to?"

"Of course I do."

"Huuuu.... listen well! Those hundred dragons - they are all gods. Well, they were gods. Right now, they are only Divine Souls, but still, that means you will need to face the wrath of heavens for a total of hundred and three souls - You, Lilith, Me and those hundred gods. Your life won't be easy, boy. Good luck. Protect Xia well, don't let anything happen to her. It's only you whom I can trust with that task, can you do it?"

"Sure but she's a lovely cutie, what if I fall in love with her one day? She won't be a kid forever, you know?"

"Hehe..."

"?"

"Well then that would be..."

*Clap*

"Perfect!"

After a clap, Tenri's voice appeared again but now several times more piercing, welcoming and even slightly ecstatic. That clap is what caused Asura's consciousness to be forced out.

<<<

Asura's eyes suddenly shot open as he felt two new existences in his body. He felt a strange feeling in his heart and between his eyebrows. When he felt the two spots, he immediately knew what they were - the place the two Fated Souls occupied.

Tenri had occupied his heart as her domain, while Lilith took his very soul - the area of third eye, to be precise.

Asura glanced at his hand and murmured to himself, "Fated Souls... huh."

He didn't delve much on this and instead became increasingly aware of the heat coming from his lower part of the body. He glanced below and saw that Xia was soaked in sweat, with her body being very hot. The heat of her body was also the source of the heat that he previously felt.

"Is she... okay?", Asura thought.

However, there was nobody who could answer his question. He glanced to the side, to the place where the staff was, but found that the staff was strangely missing.

"H-huuuuh??? It ... disappeared?"